Trees and Wi-Fi May Co-Exist After All

My print column this week examines recent reports of Wi-Fi networks’ ill effects on trees. These reports, based on some preliminary investigations in the Netherlands, overstate the evidence that trees have been harmed by the electromagnetic radiation from these signals.

There were really two separate reports. One was conducted by the Dutch municipality of Alphen aan den Rijn, of some troubling abnormalities in the city’s trees. The other, funded by the town, was a laboratory experiment pitting some trees exposed to Wi-Fi signals to others that weren’t. This study found some damage to the Wi-Fi-exposed trees, though the nature of that damage was different than the damage seen in the city’s trees.

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